Looney Tunes vs. Merrie Melodies

**From admin:**


This has puzzled me a while...

Anyone know what the difference-between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies is? I mean, other than the series. Bugs was not exclusively Merrie Melodies, Chuck did not JUST directing Looney Tunes... I do know that Merrie Melodies went color a couple years before Looney Tunes (or is it the other way around), but I do not know what made a LT a LT, and not a MM...

So, is there some common thread?

**From damfine:**


Sit yourself down, this is a long one. But I will try to keep it as short as possible. Here it goes:

It all started when two young men named Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising left the Disney studio to try and branch out on their own. They created a pilot film called "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid" inwhich Mr. Ising chatted with Bosko using REAL DIALOGUE (a first in animation history).

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. was riding the "sound pictures" wave started by The Jazz Singer. They had a whole bunch of songs that they wanted to promote somehow. This is where Leon Schlesinger stepped in. He made the deal that Hugh and Rudy would make all their Bosko cartoons through Warner Bros. as long as they incorporated one of the songs into each cartoon. Everyone agreed. The Bosko series was dubbed Looney Tunes which is obviously derived from Disney's Silly Symphonies. (They were ex-Disney animators, what else would they call it?)

Warner Bros. was happy that their songs were reaching the public. However, Hugh and Rudy weren't so pleased. They hated interupting their stories with a song but if they stopped it would have been a breach of contract. So they compromised. They created a second series of cartoons called Merrie Melodies which promoted the songs with out reoccuring characters and the Looney Tunes promoted Bosko. This policy continued even after Hugh and Rudy left Leon for MGM: Looney Tunes promoted characters and Merrie Melodies promoted songs.

But, after the success of Porky, Daffy, and later Bugs, Warner Bros. said, "Never mind the songs. Just keep working with those fabulous characters." So, after that, the title Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies became irrelevant.



Whew! I hope that answers your question.

~ Hey, damefine!
You should be commended for your overview of the differences between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Having grown up watching these cartoons since the 1950's, the situational punch-lines and more importantly, all the wonderful music from the Merrie Melodies are hard-wired into my brain. The music of the depression-era thirties was overly optimistic and fun by-and-large. It's been a revelation to me to watch old WB films on TCM that feature the original film versions of these songs in context. Check out "Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid" on YouTube if you get a chance. A truly historic film as it demonstrates Harman and Ising's mastery of sound syncronization as compared to Terry, Lantz, Van Beuren, Fleischer, and yes, even Disney's early crude attempts. Not really an official LT release, it was made on spec as you noted, in May 1929. This predates all known cartoons with true syncronized sound! It's important to note that Disney, Fleischer, and others were attempting to match sound effects in post-production by playing along with the projected film in a "live" recording situation. Never going to work perfectly, I'm afraid. Harman and Ising pioneered exposure sheets that gave the animators complete control over animating to the soundtrack. This soon became the industry standard which allowed pre-recording of all the sound elements, standards that are used to the present day.